Two subcommittees of the House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on Tuesday to examine operations of the Bureau of Prisons, seeking to improve the agency’s operations.
The House Judiciary Committee’s Crime and Oversight subcommittees, chaired by Republican Reps. Andy Biggs of Arizona and Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, will hear from Prison Fellowship Senior Vice President of Correctional Programs Cody Wilde, One Voice United Executive Director Andy Potter and Unify.US Senior Vice President and General Counsel Patric Purtill during the hearing, according to information about the upcoming hearing obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. Van Drew told the Daily Caller News Foundation that “woke nonsense” had distracted the agency, which faces “serious problems.”
“For years, the Bureau of Prisons has faced serious problems like staffing shortages, outdated infrastructure, and a lack of accountability,” Van Drew told the DCNF. “Politics and bureaucracy have gotten in the way of doing what is right. What we are finally seeing now under President Trump is a push to bring common sense back into the system. That means cutting out the woke nonsense, focusing on safety, and making sure every dollar is spent wisely.”
“We owe it to the dedicated correctional officers who put their lives on the line every day to give them the support they need,” Van Drew continued. “These are the kinds of changes that should have happened a long time ago, and I am proud to be part of the effort to hold the BOP accountable and get things back on track.”
The plan for the hearing is to give Bureau of Prisons Director William K. “Billy” Marshall III an overview of what needs to be addressed in the agency, which handles over 156,000 inmates, a source familiar with the planned hearing told the DCNF. One major issue is a shortage of staff, with the Bureau of Prisons reporting over 1,000 vacancies in November 2021.
The agency has also failed to address recommendations by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), with the GAO noting that out of eight recommendations in one 2023 report, only one had been even partially addressed.
The source familiar with the planned hearing told the DCNF that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) had also been looking into the Bureau of Prisons. DOGE, which is led by White House senior advisor Elon Musk, has identified $160 billion in savings since President Donald Trump established it when he took office for his second term on Jan. 20, according to the organization’s website.
“We want to hear from the expert witnesses on what changes BOP needs to implement to make the BOP more efficient and create a safer environment for both inmates in its custody and correctional officers,” a source familiar with the matter told the DCNF. “The Biden-Harris Administration injected politics into the administration of the federal prison system and focused on the top rather than the correctional officers doing the hard work everyday.”
